270 



niOiNTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



cine, as the most viiliiiiole of all animsil ma- 

 nures. It was extensively used on the Conti- 

 nent, though not in Britain. In Belgium it 

 was valued at £ 1 17s. 6d. [$9] per individ- 

 ual, while Englishmen are traveling to distant 

 regions of the earth — to Africa and America — 

 traversing sea and land, to bring home ele- 

 ments which they may readily obl;iin at liomc. 

 Night-soil was most valuable, Ijccause it con- 

 tained the elements of all kinds of food con- 

 sumed by man, and in applying these to the 

 soil we returned the identical cojistituents 

 which fonner crops and animals had t;(ken 

 from it. It contained pho.sphate of lime, wliich 

 was indispensable to the growth of luiimals' 

 bones, and to the nutriment of phuits, and 

 which was not supplied from the atmosphere 



like carbonic acid and amnifjnia. He recom- 

 mended the preserving of all Huid and solid 

 excretions, by mixing with them saw-dust, or 

 ashes, or burnt clay, in a dry place, which 

 would deprive them of their unpleasant smell. 

 The Proi'essor then urged that, in all good 

 farming, there must be a debtor and treditor 

 account between the fanner and his laud. — 

 Give and Take must be the nile ; if no ma- 

 nure be applied, it was mijust and idle to ex- 

 pect abundant produce. If tlie fanner stai-ves 

 the land, the hmd will a.ssuredly starve him. 

 The man who gives nothing deserves nothing. 

 He is a jjlunderer — a plunderer and a robber 

 of his mother eartli — and his speedy nun is 

 the merited pimislunent of his ravage. 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF TEXAS. 



Bastkop County, (now) State of Texas, Sept. 7, 184S. 

 To the Editor of The Farmers' Library : 



Mv LtEAR Sir : I have just read the August number of The Farmers' Libra- 

 ry \ND Monthly Journal of Agriculture, and am extremely gratified to see 

 you have recommended the culture of flax and hops. They are both indigen- 

 ous in Texas, and consequently could be_ cultivated with profit. If you, like a 

 good "schoolmaster, will do what you promised should be done for every tree of 

 the orchard and the forest, every grain of the field, every vegetable of the gar- 

 den, and every vine shall tell its own history " — and will please look, 



" With equal eye, as fiiend of all," 



on Texas as on the Old Thirteen, and give us some instruction about growing 

 the sugar-cane, and manufacture of sugar, also Spanish tobacco, hemp, and in- 

 digo, to the growth of all which our climate and soil are congenial, I think 

 our musqueat, prairie land will come in competition with the cane-brake region 

 of Alabama for growing Indian corn and cotton. We can, on the virgin soil, 

 with " brute labor," grow seventy-five bushels of the former, and four thousand 

 pounds (seed) of the latter per acre. I send you a few musqueat grass seed (not 

 knowing the botanic name). Sow in a rich, stifl' soil ; it will grow all winter, 

 and go to seed in August. The beef, butter and milk which it produces are su- 

 perior to anything of the kind I ever tasted. You would be astonished to see 

 (as you could, if here) an ox fifteen hands high, with horns three feet long, and 

 five feet from point to point, fed solely on grass — fat in winter and summer. 



(Cordially, with respect, your obedient servant. An Old Tkxan. 



P. S. May God speed the pen, enlighten the head, and refine the heart of him 

 who converts the wilderness into a fruitl'ul field! There ought to be a hundred 

 subscribers to The Farmers' Lii^rary, not only in this, but every county in the 

 State. t), T. 



LONGEVITY OF PEACH TRRES.— There is no part nf the United States where the 

 peach tree is more healthy, or attains a greater age, than in Western New- York. It is only 

 improper soil or cultin-e, and bad treatment, that has caused early decay whei-e it has oc- 

 curred. The best orchards in this section, now in full vigor, are bordering on 20 years old. 

 We have just been shown ;i collection of fniils. by Col. Colby of Ogden ; and among odiers, 

 a fair-looking, natural peach, from a Uxefort^ years old, yet hcidlhy and producdve. 



[Genesee Fanner. 

 (558) 



